Bent on her biggest research challenge: “My biggest research challenge is to understand and control surface chemistry well enough to design materials or processes to achieve whatever properties we desire. A few examples are semiconductors with stable molecular passivation, catalysts with specific selectivity, or optoelectronic devices without interfacial defects.”

What her colleagues say: “Her work has provided deep insight into understanding and controlling surface and interfacial chemistry and applying this knowledge to diverse problems in semiconductor processing, nanotechnology, and renewable energy.”—Chaitan Khosla, Stanford University